November 2012 Sporty Car Sales And Premium Sporty Car Sales In America

Sporty Car Sales Chart
Click Either Chart For Larger View

Chevrolet reported that November 2012 was its worst U.S. Camaro sales month in two years. Ford's Mustang took advantage of the opportunity to shrink the Chevy's lead. Mustang sales shot up 37% in November 2012, and the Camaro's lead over the Ford now stands at just 1096 units with one month remaining.

Year-to-date, sales of the Camaro are down 4% while sales of the Dodge Challenger and Ford Mustang are up 8% and 19%, respectively. 2012 will end as the Mustang's best American sales year since 2008.

Because BMW has chosen to rename the coupe and convertible 3-Series' as the 4-Series, we are assured that sales figures for these cars will be available sometime next year. Presently, GoodCarBadCar groups the 3-Series with small/entry luxury cars alongside the Audi A4, the full Infiniti G family, and the Mercedes-Benz C-Class.

All 265 Vehicles Ranked By U.S. November 2012 YTD Sales

For the numbers-obsessed, this is great news. But why are they inventing a new call sign for one of the few alphanumerically-named cars with name recognition? 328i means something, not just to auto enthusiasts but to the vaguely interested. 435i sounds like you're late getting off work.

The majority of sporting automobiles don't line up directly with one another. One group that does appear to form a competitive set is the German quintet: TT, Z4, SLK, Boxster, Cayman. That sales race could have been called long before the end of November. With one of 2012's months remaining, the Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class is very nearly as popular as the TT and Z4 combined. The Benz easily outsells the Porsche duo. There is one change to report. As a result of the recent surge by the third-generation 981 Boxster, it now ranks second in the group.

As much as GoodCarBadCar would prefer to include the Hyundai Veloster Turbo and not the whole Veloster range, Hyundai doesn't release sales figures that way. Neither does any other automaker. The Veloster, full Mini Cooper range, and Volkswagen Beetle are also listed in the small car section of GoodCarBadCar. New to this month's sporty car sales chart is the cushy Volkswagen Beetle Convertible. Four were sold in November. We only hope Volkswagen USA continues to offer this breakdown. 1983 Beetle hardtops were sold, as well.

Premium Sporty Car Sales Chart

As always, you can click any model name in the tables visible after the jump to see historical monthly and yearly sales figures. Or you can select any make or model at GCBC's Sales Stats home. Any car you can't find tabled here will be listed elsewhere - you can select from segments like small luxury cars and large luxury SUVs at GCBC's The Tally page.

Click either of the two accompanying charts for a larger view. In those charts, cars are ranked by volume - they're listed alphabetically in the tables below.

Sporty Car	November 2012	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
Audi A5	1385	+ 39.3%	15,698	+ 11.2%
Audi TT	216	+ 31.7%	2031	+ 0.5%
BMW 1-Series	619	- 6.8%	6932	- 12.4%
BMW Z4	229	+ 46.8%	2427	- 23.7%
Chevrolet Camaro	4464	- 12.9%	78,554	- 3.6%
Chevrolet Corvette	1104	+ 21.3%	12,841	+ 5.9%
Dodge Challenger	2868	- 4.3%	39,177	+ 8.1%
Ford Mustang	5309	+ 37.4%	77,458	+ 18.5%
Honda CR-Z	244	- 20.0%	3949	- 63.3%
Hyundai Veloster	2084	- 17.9%	32,886	+ 363%
Infiniti G37 Coupe/Convertible	978	+ 10.5%	11,982	- 10.3%
Mazda MX-5 Miata	369	+ 25.5%	5911	+ 10.8%
Mercedes-Benz SLK	427	+ 107%	4150	+ 40.5%
Mini Convertible	325	+ 19.9%	4488	- 3.8%
Mini Coupe	149	- 47.9%	2702	+ 286%
Mini Roadster	196	-----	2098	-----
Mitsubishi Eclipse	26	- 83.2%	1153	- 84.4%
Nissan 370Z	450	+ 26.4%	6932	+ 0.8%
Porche Boxster	467	+ 765%	2519	+ 45.2%
Porsche Cayman	4	- 96.5%	452	- 65.5%
Scion FR-S	1350	-----	9922	-----
Scion tC	1493	- 5.4%	21,283	+ 2.1%
Subaru BRZ	527	-----	3647	-----
Subaru Impreza WRX	1353	+ 10.0%	11,982	- 4.5%
Volkswagen Beetle Convertible	4	-----	4	- 99.5%
Volkswagen Eos	313	- 18.7%	5842	- 17.9%
Volkswagen GTI	1003	- 11.5%	15,229	- 2.0%
Volkswagen Golf R	277	-----	3602	-----
Volvo C70	292	- 14.9%	4233	- 9.1%

Premium Sporty Car	November 2012	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
Audi R8	50	- 40.5%	751	- 25.8%
BMW 6-Series	919	+ 67.4%	7171	+ 126%
Jaguar XK	106	- 24.8%	1500	- 4.2%
Lexus LFA	4	0.0%	40	- 23.1%
Mercedes-Benz CL-Class	63	- 20.3%	652	- 26.4%
Mercedes-Benz SL-Class	573	+ 625%	4396	+ 226%
Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG	28	- 83.4%	762	+ 19.8%
Nissan GT-R	85	+ 51.8%	1139	- 9.5%
Porsche 911	765	+ 93.7%	8009	+ 43.2%

Source: Manufacturers & ANDC
Clearly GoodCarBadCar is not suggesting that the cars in the two tables above are all direct competitors. Establishing categories among cars as unique as even the Audi TT and Porsche Boxster has never pleased a single reader, so cars have been lumped together so you can simply see how buyers looking for sports cars, roadsters, hot hatches, convertibles, GTs, and wanna-be sports cars spend their money. Greater categorization of cars would only lead to problems that automakers create by not isolating model-specific sales figures: we don't know how many M3s BMW has sold or how many Civics are Si models, for example. The numbers we do have are listed above.

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